Birth Pangs of Matthew 24, Jan. 15, 2007

[Shammu]

Train crash in U.S. releases flammable chemical, people told to stay home
The Associated Press
Published: January 15, 2007

IRVINE, Kentucky: Four runaway rail cars struck two parked locomotives in east-central Kentucky on Monday, causing a fire spilling a chemical that prompted a limited evacuation and orders that others stay indoors.

The crash released butyl acetate, a flammable liquid, from a burning tanker car, authorities said. The fire produced a huge column of black smoke, and a section of the Kentucky River caught fire. No injuries were reported, authorities said.

"Emergency crews are attempting to extinguish that flame," said Kentucky State Police Maj. Lisa Rudzinski. "That is a toxic cloud as a result of that butyl acetate."

The burning tanker car contained about 30,000 gallons (113,000 liters) of butyl acetate, said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. Butyl acetate is commonly used as a solvent or as a synthetic fruit flavoring.

Police ordered people in the immediate area to evacuate, and people in others part of Estill County, Kentucky, were told to stay indoors, keep their windows closed and to put towels under doors.

Four CSX rail cars left their track shortly before noon and went onto a main rail line, traveling several miles (kilometers) before hitting the parked CSX locomotives, Sease said.

Both the locomotives and rail cars were unmanned, Rudzinski said.

Train crash in U.S. releases flammable chemical, people told to stay home

[Shammu]

 Hindus Want to ´Reclaim´ Swastika
20:14 Jan 15, '07 / 25 Tevet 5767

(IsraelNN.com) While Germany is pressing ahead with plans to ban Holocaust denial across the European Union, Buddhists and Hindus in Britain are starting a campaign to reclaim the swastika from its Nazi associations.

Hindu Forum spokesman Ramesh Kallidai said the swastika had been a Hindu good luck charm for centuries. His group will stage public awareness workshops across the UK and lobby politicians in an attempt to educate the public and prevent a ban, he said.

"It's the second most sacred symbol in the Hindu tradition which has been used for 5,000 years to ward off evil," Kallidai said.

Hindus Want to ´Reclaim´ Swastika

[Shammu]

 Fatah Accuses Hamas of Plotting to Assasinate Abbas
00:41 Jan 16, '07 / 26 Tevet 5767

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority's Fatah faction on Monday accused rivals Hamas of plotting to assassinate a number of its senior figures, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Gaza-strongman Mohammad Dahlan.

Abdel Hakim Awad, a Fatah spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said a network of tunnels was discovered inside Gaza - some starting inside mosques. The tunnels were laden with explosives, he said, a new development in a violent conflict between Abbas’ Fatah and the Islamic Hamas, which controls the government.

"Hamas have been lately working in a systematic and well-planned manner to complete these diggings and also stored large quantities of explosive devices in the Salah al-Din area in the Strip as well as in the Jabaliya refugee camp," Awad said.

Fatah Accuses Hamas of Plotting to Assasinate Abbas

[Shammu]

 Secret Talks with Syria
05:15 Jan 16, '07 / 26 Tevet 5767

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli and Syrian officials, in a series of meetings that took place between 2004 and 2006, reached an understanding for a peace deal between the two countries. Under the agreement, Syria would withdraw support from terrorist organizations Hizbollah and Hamas, distance itself from Iran, and help secure a stable Iraq. Israel would help Syria normalize relations with the United States. The Golan Heights would be demilitarized and mostly become a park, accessible to both Israelis and Syrians. Israel would retain access to the headwaters of the Jordan Rivar and Lake Kineret.

Syria is seen as being on the verge of economic collapse, which would endanger the Assad regime. Israel and Syria are officially at war, though the current cease-fire has lasted for decades.

Secret Talks with Syria

[Shammu]

Iran wants 10 nuke reactors ‘to produce electricity’

In press conference, Tehran government spokesman says his country needs at least 3,000 centrifuges for production of nuclear fuel
Dudi Cohen

Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham gave a press conference Monday in which he responded to the question of what operations were taking place at the Natanz nuclear facility.

"We are moving toward production of nuclear fuel which needs 3,000 centrifuges and more than that ... This plan is going ahead and is moving toward completion," Elham said.

Elham added, “Iran needs an electricity supply of 10 thousand megawatts by nuclear energy, and in order to supply that, we need 10 nuclear plants.”

Elham reiterated Iran’s official stance, saying that its nuclear activities were being supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

However, Elham repeated a threat, made by other Iranian officials in the past, to review its position over nuclear cooperation if pushed.

"We have not pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But if they (the West) try to create obstacles then we will change our path as well," he said.

According to him, Iran was expected to announce further progress in its nuclear plans towards next month when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was expected to declare the successful completion of another step in the uranium enriching process.

In a direct response to the United Nations Security Council’s decision on 23 December to impose sanctions on the country, Iran said it would start installing 3,000 centrifuges, which experts say could make enough uranium for power plant fuel, or one bomb within a year.

But western diplomats and analysts had previously told Reuters Iran appeared not to have begun installing the machines for planned "industrial scale" output of enriched uranium.

Iran wants 10 nuke reactors ‘to produce electricity’

[Shammu]

 Iran, Nicaragua to stay as allies forever: President Ahmadinejad
Managua, Jan 15, IRNA

Iran-Nicaragua-President
Visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, Sunday expressed confidence Iran and Nicaragua will remain allies forever.

The president's remarks were made during an official ceremony Sunday night awarding him Nicaragua's highest medal of honor, the Liberty Medal, and the Ruben Dario Medal in the field of art.

He left Managua for Quito, Ecuador, later in the night.

The president, accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday morning on the first leg of a tour of three Latin American states. He and his delegation left Caracas for the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, Sunday morning.

Addressing well-wishers in Managua, the president said the peoples of Iran and Nicaragua were determined to put an end to the backwardness that grips peoples of the region as well as reinforce their unity and determination to achieve progress.

Felicitating President Daniel Ortega's comeback in Nicaraguan politics, President Ahmadinejad said his recent election is a testament to the Nicaraguan spirit of independence and quest for power.

"You have proved that you are a freedom-loving nation which opposes oppression," the Iranian president told the cheering people in Managua, assuring them that Iran would be with them in their struggle for all time.

President Ahmadinejad said he felt he "was not a stranger" in Nicaragua despite the distance between the two countries.

Stressing that global imperialism was against the progress of nations, President Ahmadinejad voiced Tehran's readiness to share its experiences and capabilities in various fields with Managua.

He expressed the wish that global imperialism would one day end and that the two revolutionary nations of Iran and Nicaragua would stay as allies and achieve their goals.

Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad's remarks indicating confidence Managua would be able to solve its problems with the help of Tehran was highly welcomed by President Ortega.

Iran, Nicaragua to stay as allies forever: President Ahmadinejad

[Shammu]

 Presidents of Iran, Bolivia ask for higher level ties
Quito, Jan 16, IRNA

Iran-Bolivia-Meet
IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Monday in a meeting with his Bolivian counterpart was agreed with him on need for higher level of bilateral ties.

According to IRNA's dispatched reporter to Quito, during the meeting at residence of the Bolivian President Evo Morales, the IRI President said that the developments in Bolivia are towards advancement and long strides have been taken in that respect.

Ahmadinejad added, "Tehran is ready to transfer its experience and expertise in various fields, particularly in agriculture, oil, and gas technologies to Bolivia.

He referred to the academic potentials in Iran for improving the technical knowledge of Bolivia experts and for assisting the entire independent countries in their will to maintain their national prestige and independence, in accordance with our Islamic teachings and duties.

He also announced Iran's readiness for bilateral and multilateral cooperation in Latin America, emphasizing, "Fortunately the wide scale anti-Imperialist movement in this region is now rolling, and we hope the regional leaders, like President Ortega, President Correa, President Chavez and your good self would lead Latin America towards justice, solidarity, and advancement.

The Bolivian President, too, presenting a brief report on developments in his country, said, "Our people's trust in their leaders today has roots in our transparent policies and our frankness in dealing with our nation and in serving them."
President Morales elaborated on measures adopted by Bolivian government in defense of the prestige of that nation in their campaign against US totalitarian policies, adding, "We have decided that the Americans need to obtain visas in order to enter our country as of this year."

Presidents of Iran, Bolivia ask for higher level ties

[Shammu]

IRAN PREPARES FIRST-STRIKE NUKE CAPABILITY

JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Iran's nuclear program seeks to acquire first-strike capability against Israel.

A leading Israeli strategist and former intelligence officer has asserted that Teheran was directing its nuclear program for a confrontation with Israel. The strategist said Iran believes it could destroy the Jewish state with one nuclear weapon.

"Iranians believe that it holds, may hold a first strike capability against Israel once it has a nuclear capability," Shmuel Bar, director of studies at the Institute of Police and Strategy, said. "That Israel is a one bomb country, one bomb from the point-of-view of the receiving side. That the U.S. would not intervene against Iran under such conditions, and all of that with apocalyptic zeal may result in actual use of nuclear weapons."

Bar, who for years worked in the Israeli intelligence community, told a lecture on Jan. 9 that Iran was prepared to destroy Muslim cities as the price for firing nuclear missiles toward Israel. He said the ruling Islamic clergy would support a nuclear attack on Israel even at the risk of killing millions of Palestinian Muslims.

IRAN PREPARES FIRST-STRIKE NUKE CAPABILITY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know how much stock, I would put in this at the moment.  Seems like Iran has quite a bit of work, to do yet.

[Shammu]

Iran: The Backlash Begins
By Robert Tait

AMID THE chaos of confused global weather fronts, uncommonly cold temperatures have gripped Tehran in recent weeks. This freeze provides a suitable metaphor for the rapidly cooling feelings many Iranians have towards President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Just as the Iranian capital has been shivering in the winter freeze Ahmadinejad has started to feel the unmistakable chill of public disaffection. Having become accustomed to the warmth of mass acclaim at a series of nationwide open-air rallies, the Islamist firebrand is now discovering the limits of his popularity.

Criticism was easy to dismiss when it was limited to intellectuals and political reformists. Ahmadinejad countered by resorting to straightforward repressiveness, sacking liberal university lecturers and closing reformist newspapers. But now voters have started to turn against a man whose political strength lay in his populist appeal.
continued...

Last month, rising discontent over his government's failing economic policies led to a drubbing at the polls. In nationwide council elections, candidates supporting the president gained just 20% of the vote. Only two Ahmadinejad loyalists - including his sister Parvin - won seats on the 15-member Tehran city council, often seen as a key indicator of political trends across the country.

The results coincided with a political comeback for Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad's most powerful rival and his defeated opponent in the 2005 presidential election. Rafsanjani, a sharp critic of the president's strident anti-Western rhetoric, topped the poll in elections to the experts' assembly, a clerical body empowered to supervise and appoint Iran's supreme leader.

But the most ominous sign that the political tide is turning against Ahmadinejad is that many of his friends have started to desert him.

Having built an international status on baiting the West, the president is in danger of becoming a scapegoat for the increasing isolation Iran faces over its nuclear programme - which the West suspects is designed for bomb-making despite Iranian denials.

After months of deliberation, the UN security council last month imposed limited sanctions over Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. This process can be used to produce power. Critics blame the president's strident rhetoric and resistance to compromise for uniting the security council against Iran. The influential website Aftab claimed last week that Ahmadinejad effectively killed any chance of a deal between the country's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, by declaring that Iran would not suspend enrichment for "even one day".

"This remark prepared the circumstances for the recent security council resolution against Iran," the website stated.

More worrying still for the president was the fact that fundamentalist newspaper Jomhouri Eslami - which often reflects the views of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - accused Ahmadinejad of adopting the nuclear issue as a personal slogan to deflect attention from his government's economic failings.

"Turning the nuclear issue into a propaganda slogan gives the impression that you, for the sake of covering up flaws in the government, are exaggerating its importance," the paper said. "This is harmful for you and your government.

"The nuclear programme goes beyond governments and tastes and is a national issue. If people get the impression that the government is exaggerating the nuclear case to divert attention from their demands, you will cause this national issue to lose public support."

The warning followed criticism by MPs that a conference staged last month questioning the holocaust - organised to bolster Ahmadinejad's dismissal of the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis as a "myth" - had damaged the national interest.

At a closed session of the conservative-dominated parliament, members denounced the event as "inappropriate" and "unnecessary", and said it had directly influenced the UN's decision to impose sanctions on Iran.

For the president's opponents the welter of criticism means only one thing. "It's a sign that the golden age and honeymoon of Ahmadinejad with the people is over," said Isa Saharkhiz, a journalist and political activist. "He is in a position where not only his critics but many of his followers are trying to distance themselves from his stances and actions. His rivals in the last presidential election will have a more vital role in the country's future."

Ahmadinejad left the winter blizzard of criticism behind yesterday for a four-day visit to Latin America, where he will meet President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega, the newly inaugurated Nicaraguan president, and Rafael Correa, who is sworn in today as Ecuador's president. With all three men, he shares a unyielding hostility towards America.

That may be enough to ensure him a warm reception on his travels - but he will find the climate distinctly chilly on his return home.

Iran: The Backlash Begins

[Shammu]

Iran denies freeze in nuke activity
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 14, 2007

Iran on Sunday denied reports that nuclear activities had stalled at one of its uranium enrichment plants and reiterated it would press ahead with the program which the West fears could be used to make nuclear arms.

"Activities in Natanz continue," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, said during a weekly media briefing, in response to a question whether nuclear enrichment at the plant had stopped.

On Thursday, diplomats in Vienna - headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency which inspects Iran's declared nuclear sites - had said that despite tough talk from Teheran leaders, Iran's uranium enrichment program appears stalled, leaving intelligence services puzzled.

Deputy chief of Iran's atomic energy organization, Mohammad Saeedi, promptly dismissed the suggestions by the diplomats accredited or otherwise linked to the Vienna-based IAEA that the current calm at the Natanz site could be a front.

While the world's attention is focused on Natanz, Iranian scientists and military personnel could be working on a secret enrichment program at some unknown and possibly more advanced site, according to the diplomats, who had demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing restricted information.

There have been no signs of any activity linked to plans to assemble 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz and move them into an underground facility as the start of an ambitious program foreseeing more than 50,000 centrifuges producing enriched material, the diplomats said.

"Iran has a plan for production of nuclear fuel, so it should not cross anybody's mind Iran might stop its activities," Saeedi said.

Earlier in January, two inspectors from the IAEA arrived here to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities in Natanz and Isfahan.

Iran's parliament had urged the government in late December to re-examine its ties with the UN nuclear agency following a Security Council decision to impose limited sanctions against Teheran over its refusal to cease enrichment of uranium - a process that produces the material for either nuclear reactors or atomic bombs.

Iran says that as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty it has the right to develop a peaceful uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear power.

The United States and its European allies suspect Iran's civilian nuclear program is a cover for developing a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charges and says its program is strictly for generating electricity.

Criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hard-line nuclear diplomacy tactics has recently increased at home, in the wake of municipal elections last month in which candidates associated with the president sustained a humiliating defeat.

Iran denies freeze in nuke activity

[Shammu]

Palestinian factions hold talks in Damascus on unity government
By News Agencies

Officials from the Hamas militant group and envoys of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas held intensive talks Monday in an effort to bridge differences over the formation of a national unity government, a senior Hamas official said.

The talks come ahead of an expected visit by Abbas, of the Fatah party, to Damascus later this week.

Qatari Foreign Ministry representative, Ahmed Abdul-Aziz Al-Mahmoud, also attended Monday's meeting, the official told The Associated Press in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

The official said Hamas officials have been holding marathon talks with two Abbas envoys - independent legislator Ziad Abu Amr and Mohammed Rashid, a former adviser to the late Yasser Arafat. Al-Mahmoud also met Hamas' exiled political chief Khaled Meshal in the Qatari Embassy in Damascus, during which the two discussed proposals made by Abbas about the sensitive interior and finance Cabinet posts, the official added.

The official declined to give details of Abbas' suggestions or Hamas' response.

Officials from both Palestinian sides said last week that significant progress has been made in secret talks over the past two weeks between Meshal and the two Abbas envoys.

Palestinian officials said Sunday that Abbas will visit Syria later this week for talks with Meshal as well as Syrian officials. The talks would aim at negotiating a new coalition government and ending weeks of Palestinian infighting that have claimed 35 lives.

Aides from Abbas' moderate Fatah party had said the Palestinian president
could meet with Mashaal as early as Monday, but Hamas officials said the
tentative meeting had been postponed to Saturday.

Abbas told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah on Sunday that he would go ahead with early elections if negotiations for a coalition government with Hamas were to fail.

Fatah: Hamas digging tunnels in likely plot to kill Abbas
Palestinian security forces uncovered an extensive network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip that the Fatah faction said on Monday could have been used to assassinate its top leaders, including Abbas.

The ruling Hamas faction would not say whether it dug the tunnels, discovered by Fatah-dominated security forces in central and northern Gaza on Monday and over the weekend.

A Fatah spokesman, Abdel-Hakim Awad, held Hamas responsible but stopped short of accusing the group of being behind any specific assassination plot.

Awad said some of the tunnels were lined with explosives and ran directly beneath the homes of prominent Fatah members.

One of the tunnels ran underneath the main road leading to the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, a key route used by some Palestinian workers into the Jewish state.

The crossing and road are also used by Abbas and Mohammad Dahlan, a possible successor to Abbas, and other Fatah officials to reach the West Bank.

"This represents ... a premeditated intention to carry out assassination attempts against leaders and symbols of Fatah," Awad said, singling out Abbas and Dahlan.

"Any attack on any of our leaders will turn the Palestinian situation into serious chaos and internal fighting, which will spare no one," Awad said.

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Abbas of Fatah called for fresh elections last month, raising the stakes in his bitter power struggle with the governing Hamas Islamists.

Abbas said he would give negotiations over a unity government with Hamas one last chance.

But Fatah's accusations about the tunnels could cast a shadow over the renewed talks.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, declined to comment on the tunnels.

"Hamas will not respond to such media provocations ... in order to provide a positive atmosphere to defuse the crisis and to allow the resumption of national dialogue over the formation of a unity government," Barhoum said.

Hamas arrests gunmen who stormed UN office in Gaza Strip
Hamas-affiliated policemen on Monday arrested six gunmen who stormed into a United Nations office in the Gaza Strip looking for foreigners to kidnap, a spokesman for the force said.

The spokesman, Islam Shahwan, said the gunmen, whose identities and affiliations he declined to disclose, had sought to seize international staff at the Khan Younis headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

gotcha98 Abu Hasna, UNRWA's media adviser in Gaza, said no foreigners were present when some 10 gunmen barged in.

"We have detained six gunmen ... [and they] are now being interrogated," Shahwan said.

Gaza has been hit by a spate of kidnappings in which gunmen attempting to press the Palestinian government for jobs or to free prisoners have seized foreigners, all of whom have been released, usually within hours or days.

Recently, some kidnappers in Gaza sought ransoms but it is unclear whether any money was paid.

Palestinian factions hold talks in Damascus on unity government

[Shammu]

 Islamic Jihad Threatens Ashkelon
23:09 Jan 15, '07 / 25 Tevet 5767

(IsraelNN.com) Islamic Jihad terrorists leaders threatened Monday afternoon they have more powerful Kassam rockets ready to be fired on the southern port city of Ashkelon, where a large electric generating station and oil and gas pipelines are located.

They spread banners in Gaza proclaiming that their "Jerusalem Brigade" will begin a new military campaign against Israel, which was accused of "drinking blood"
of Arab victims.

Shortly after the campaign rally, a Kassam rocket landed near Sderot.

Islamic Jihad Threatens Ashkelon

[Shammu]

 Zelekha: Israel Most Corrupt Western Country
05:40 Jan 16, '07 / 26 Tevet 5767

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli Finance Ministry Accountant-General Yaron Zelekha noted Monday that Israel is recognized by international bodies to be the most corrupt country in the Western world, yet remained optimistic that most public agencies were trustworthy and that the problems could be healed.

Zelekha is under constant security protection since receiving threats by phone. His efforts to root out corruption have brought him many enemies in the treasury. Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who installed Zelekha, has publicly defended him.

Zelekha: Israel Most Corrupt Western Country

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IDF delighted with new head of UNIFIL
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 15, 2007

The IDF on Sunday praised the United Nations' decision to appoint Italian Gen. Claudio Graziano as the new head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Graziano, whose appointment has yet to be officially announced, is scheduled to take up his new post by mid-February, when French Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini steps down after three years in the post.

"He is a serious officer," IDF sources said of Graziano. "He takes his job seriously and we expect to see a continued crackdown on Hizbullah under his command."

Graziano rose through the ranks in Italy's Artillery Corps and commanded NATO's Kabul Multinational Brigade in the past. He has extensive experience in combating insurgency and terrorism, according to the IDF.

Northern Command sources also praised the performance of UNIFIL's 2,500-strong Italian contingent, saying it was working to prevent Hizbullah from returning to its outposts on the border. The Italian force has been instrumental in destroying close to 20,000 explosive devices - bombs and mines - left behind in Lebanon from last summer's war.

Italian Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the appointment of Graziano reflected Italy's commitment to stabilizing Lebanon.

"This is confirmation that our government is willing to invest heavily for the sake of the stabilization of Lebanon," he said. "I am sure it will also be instrumental in maintaining a continued good relationship between Israel and Italy."

Last week, IDF officers bid "good riddance" to Pellegrini, who they said was pro-Hizbullah and had not made sufficient efforts action to prevent the Islamists from building their forces and attacking Israel.

IDF delighted with new head of UNIFIL

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IDF delighted with new head of UNIFIL

This is a potential big deal. If Graziano does do more against the terrorists there could be much more fighting between UNIFIL and the Hezbullah. But, I just can't see that happening; I see them running out of Lebanon if the fighting increases.

Of course, if he does nothing as UNIFIL usually does, then the status quo will remain pretty much the same. But, the situation will get hotter and hotter if UNIFIL does nothing and it will eventually explode into violence when the terrorists are ready to attack again. Then UNIFIL will not be equipped to fight them and will surely end up running anyway.